DILI, 21 february 2024 (TATOLI) – The Court of Appeal has declared unconstitutional a section of the rule contained in Article 9(1) of Law 20/2023, of 12 December, which allows the President of the Republic to decide on the granting of pardons and commutation of sentences after a period of five days has elapsed.
It should be remembered that the President of the Republic, Ramos Horta, pardoned Emília Pires and Madalena Hanjam, convicted of participating in a business deal, on the basis of the Law on the Procedure for Granting Pardons and Commutations of Sentences, enacted two days earlier.
At the time, Ramos Horta said that the Head of State does not pardon just anyone: “I pardoned based on the facts that I always analyzed with the appropriate care. I know the case of Emília Pires and Madalena Hanjam very well. The approval of the new law by the parliamentarians dignified the Constitution of the Republic. That’s why I pardoned Emília Pires and Madalena Hanjam. Emília Pires’ case has not been resolved in ten years. That’s why the idea of ‘justice delayed, justice denied’ is appropriate in the pardon.”
The granting of pardons by Ramos Horta led the opposition parties to strongly criticize the President’s decision for not valuing the justice system in the country since it encouraged the idea of political favoritism on the part of the two political parties, CNRT and Partido Democrático, who voted for the pardons law in the final overall vote.
“The approval of a law that allows political favoritism will weaken the justice system in our country, namely by devaluing the decision of the courts, in this case, the decision of the Dili District Court,” said Joaquim dos Santos, a FRETILIN MP.
As a result of this position, at the time, the opposition, made up of 23 MPs from FRETILIN and the PLP, under the provisions of Article 150(e) of the Constitution of the Republic, asked the Court of Appeal to declare several articles of the Pardon and Commutation of Sentences Law unconstitutional because they violated the principles of separation of powers and equality.
Following the decision of the Court of Appeal, in which some articles of the law were declared unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable, FRETILIN MP Joaquim Freitas said: “If the President of the Republic is indeed a statesman, he should revoke the pardon for Emília Pires and Madalena Hanjam.”
Journalist: Domingos Piedade Freitas
Editor: Isaura Lemos de Deus
Translation: Camilio de Sousa
